Demonstrates the role the guarantee of due process can play in ensuring that vital interests in public education not be lost through erroneous assessments of a student's proficiency in basic skills, and describes the limits constitutional and statutory guarantees of equal educational opportunity place on the use of competency testing. (Author/IRT)

California Assembly Bill 3408 requires school districts to adopt their own standards in basic skills, including reading comprehension, writing, and computation. Students must be tested at least once in grades 7-9 and twice in grades 10-11. After June, 1980, students who do not meet standards will not receive a high school diploma. Assembly Bill…

To comply with official state regulations, public school districts in Massachusetts must establish minimum standards for reading, mathematics and writing by September 1980, and for listening and speaking by September 1981. The standards must apply to three grade levels: early elementary, late elementary, and secondary. Parents, teachers,…

The requirement that home schooled students score at or above the 40th percentile on a nationally standardized test runs counter to several widely accepted principles of measurement. A single score should not be used alone in decision making, and there is no evidence that this is a valid use of the test. In addition, the 40th percentile is not an…

This report provides Minnesota legislators with background information on establishing state educational standards and periodic testing to measure student progress. Scientific management, the accountability movement, and the basic education movement were educational trends of the 1970's providing pressure on states to set standards to improve…

Results of the second year of the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills Tests in reading and mathematics, mandated by the New Jersey Public School Education Act of 1975, are summarized. Approximately 397,000 students in grades three, six, nine, and eleven were tested. Results of the tests showed that a smaller percentage of sixth-grade students met…

This guide to legislation and state board of education policy on minimum competency testing is designed to explain the legal basis for minimum competency testing mandates in the various states. Specifically, it explores: the differences between board mandates and state legislation; details of the requirements--subject areas, grade promotion and…

This document contains testimony, prepared statements, letters, and supplemental materials submitted during two days of hearings held in September, 1977. Under consideration was a bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require state educational agencies to establish basic standards of educational proficiency applicable…

Results for the Spring 1989 Delaware Educational Assessment Program are presented. The assessment involved the administration of a newly normed test--the Stanford Achievement Test, Eighth Edition--to approximately 65,000 public school students in grades 1 through 8 and 11 during the period extending from April 5 through 18, 1989. Among other…

Update VI provides an overview of federal and state legislation regarding minimal competency requirements for graduation and promotion as well as state department of education activities and local district programs in this area, from 1975 through June 1, 1977. Twenty-four states had introduced 67 bills related to this topic up to this date. While…

Florida state legislation has mandated the evaluation of its compensatory education programs. The Florida Accountability Act of 1976 called for minimum basic skills testing in grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 (subsequently amended to grade 10). In 1977, the Florida Compensatory Education Act mandated remedial programs for students performing below the…